A City of Kalamazoo plow truck spreads salt along the southbound lane of S. Westnedge Ave. at Crane Park in this file photo.Kalamazoo Gazette

Joanna Johnson, Kalamazoo County Road Commission managing director, said Monday morning primary roads and local through roads are easier to travel on than subdivisions, cul-de-sacs and dead-end roads, which are proving difficult to maneuver.

Road commission crews plowed the majority of roads yesterday, but with the overnight snowfall, Johnson said, they are concentrating on the primary and local through roads. Johnson said cul-de-sacs prove difficult to maneuver with the amount of snow and logistics of equipment, but that the road commission monitors plow truck activity and locations through GPS trackers on each truck.

"We are certainly doing the best we can," Johnson said, noting that three shifts had worked to clear roads throughout the weekend and that the road commission has contractors on-call.

"We're in full force."

Johnson said crews are using salt and sand sparingly because of the large snow accumulations. Crews do not want to put down the material only to plow it away. She said clearing roads is easier in rural areas, but road crews are having difficulty in subdivisions, where they have fewer places to pile up snow. In those subdivisions, crews try to place snow on open land.

Residents in subdivisions also may see roads cleared for only one passing lane, with snow pushed to the outer edges of the road if no open land exists. Johnson said the road commission does not haul snow off-site because of the miles of road it has to maintain.

Plow drivers with the Michigan Department of Transportation are fighting blowing and drifting snow, especially on state roads that run north and south, to keep them clear for drivers, said spokesman Nick Schirripa.

With wind chills of 20 degrees below zero, Schirripa said road crews are not using salt, which melts and re-freezes, causing slippery roads.

"At this point it's just straight plowing, trying to move as much of this snow off of the road as we can as quickly as we can," Schirripa said.

Schirripa said road crews are not concentrating on hauling snow off-site from the shoulders of state roads since it is still falling as of Monday morning. He said road crews might move it later if they have the opportunity. Right now, MDOT's crews are working on keeping roads clear.

"It does not appear that we're going to get any break from Mother Nature in the near future," Schirripa said.

Schirripa said drivers should remember to give plows enough room to work, and to remember they likely are not traveling as fast as passenger cars. He reminded drivers that weather conditions might cause slower travel along I-94 of 30 or 35 miles per hour instead of faster speeds.